JEFF EDELSTEIN: From Alaska to Lawrence, all for some crowberry

Quick question: How many times have you said to yourself, “If only I was part of a set of triplets raised in the Alaskan hinterlands, I would totally team up with my sisters and we’d have our own natural high-end cosmeceutical line using Arctic plants native to our home.”

If you’re anything like me ... well, you’ve probably never said that.

But for Lawrence resident Michelle Sparck, the above outlandish tale is actually her life.

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She and her sisters started Arxotica (arxotica.com) back in 2006 and they’re in the ongoing process of becoming the next big thing in the world of high-end beauty products.

First, the product: The main one is Quyung-lii Anti-Aging Skin Serum, which is crowberry based, along with fireweed blossoms, arctic sage, glacier water and omega oils and ...

OK, OK … I’m not exactly the person you should be listening to when it comes to anti-aging serums; after all, I depend on bourbon to keep my insides in tip-top shape and generous doses of summer sun to keep that healthy tanned lobster look.

But Alaska? Triplets? Now that’s a story I can get into …

“The region I come from is the size of Ohio,” Michelle told me, and I immediately stopped her.

“The region?” I asked.

“Well, my town, Bethel, was the hub of the region, maybe 5,000 people or so. But the whole area, the Yukon Delta - we call it the YK Delta - that’s what we call home,” she said. “There were no roads, so you got around in the rivers. Either by boat in the summer or snow machine in the winter.”

Not exactly suburbia, in short.

Michelle is a Yup’ik Cup’ik Eskimo — “We don’t mind the term,” she said — and while she identifies as an Alaskan, she also has some East Coast in her, as her Dad was a Baltimore resident before heading to the YK Delta. So Michelle saw Baltimore every so often growing up.

“Trees and asphalt were quite the novelty,” she recalls.

But she wasn’t put off by the lower 48, and so she ended up at American University in Washington, D.C. for college. From there, she got an internship with an Alaskan senator, which led to a job advocating for the native cultures of Alaska. She met her husband in D.C., got married, eventually moved to New Jersey, and … started this business.

The sisters got seed money from oil company grants, and were able to do things right.

“We spent a lot of the money we got making sure we developed a good anti-aging product,” she said,” which included minerals assessment at the University of Alaska and tons of other research.

The raw materials for the serum and their other products are hand-picked by the sisters, once a year, in Alaska. From there, the ingredients are flown to New Jersey and whipped together in Edison.

As of now, the sisters’ products can be bought online, in numerous Alaskan businesses and at a handful of spa resorts here in the lower 48.

They’re looking to get big, to become a player in this field, but as you might imagine, it’s a tough business to break into. Some real heavyweights in this space.

Which is also why Michelle is a good person to talk to when it comes to other, would-be entrepreneurs.

“Do your homework, do your research,” she said. “If you’re lucky enough to get funding, maximize those dollars the best you can. Use that money to get more money.”

Sound advice.

In the meantime, Michelle is just your average Eskimo gal in New Jersey, going after her fireweed blossom dreams. Typical story, really.